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Sunday, March 20, 2011

Rangers Third Period Rally Sparked By Cooke Elbow, Extend Winning Streak To Four

Justin K. Aller/Getty Images

There is something about the third
period in Pittsburgh that really works for the New York Rangers this
season. After playing one mediocre and
one awful period the team had a furious final 11 minutes in which they turned a
2-1 deficit into a huge 5-2 victory. The
turning point of the game was clearly Matt Cooke’s vicious elbow to the head of
Ryan McDonagh(video)
at 4:36 of the third. Cooke was assessed
a five minute major and given a game misconduct for the hit. I expect he will get a lengthy suspension of
7-10 games as well if the league really wants to send a message about getting
these hits out of the game.

Following the elbow by Cooke the
Penguins would actually gain the initial momentum when Chris Kunitz scored a
shorthanded goal beating Henrik Lundqvist on a perfect shot far side, top
corner. The Rangers who were struggling
to get anything going got more help from Pittsburgh when Matt Niskanen was
called for a double minor as he high-sticked Ryan Callahan across the nose and
drew blood.

Late in the 5-on-3 advantage the
Rangers tied the game as a Bryan McCabe drive led to a rebound which Marian
Gaborik put home at 9:28 of the period.
It was the first thing Gaborik did all day and easily his most important
goal this season. Ryan Callahan struck
just 11 seconds later from a bad angle to give the Rangers a lead they would
not relinquish.

Derek Stepan would add a rebound
goal to seal the game with 1:15 left and then Brandon Dubinsky capped the
scoring with an empty-net goal with 40 seconds to go to make it 5-2.

This was a huge win for the
Rangers and their third character building triumph in Pittsburgh this
season. The team is now on a season high
four game win streak, three points back of sixth place Montreal and six points
clear of Carolina in the playoff race.

The Rangers had a slow start in
the first period, but they would tally the first goal just over midway through
the when Artem Anisimov converted a beautiful feed from Ryan Callahan at
11:20. Dubinsky with excellent work behind
the net eventually worked the puck to Callahan and his saucer pass found
Anisimov in front of the net for the finish.

The lead would not last long as
Jordan Staal tied the game up at 14:59 on a breakaway goal. Dan Girardi with a horrible read on the play
as he got caught stepping on Alex Kovalev in the neutral zone assuming the
pass, which left him trapped too far inside and Staal with tons of room.

You had to expect
that the Penguins were going to take every chance to crash the crease considering
the questions about Henrik Lundqvist’s neck and Max Talbot certainly made that
happen late in the first. Talbot clearly
ran Lundqvist and Ryan Callahan took exception and tossed Talbot to the
ice. Only Callahan was assessed a
penalty which rightfully incensed coach John Tortorella.

The second period was
an embarrassing effort by the Rangers and if not for the stellar work of Henrik
Lundqvist the game would have been over.

Henrik
Lundqvist’s performance today cannot be understated regardless of the neck
issues he was having before the game. He
single-handedly kept this team in the game and gave them a chance for that
rally.

With
each game the love for Michael Sauer grows stronger as he will do whatever it
takes to help this team and his willingness to defend his goalie is something
the rest of this team needs to learn from.

Ryan
Callahan needs to be cut more often because each time he sees his own blood he
seems to score a goal, so we have to work that into future gameplans.